Spring row unit and structure



May 10, 1960 G. SIMON SPRING ROW UNIT AND STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 23, 1958 1 wgzvron George lmon BY ATTORNEY SPRING ROW UNIT AND STRUCTURE George Simon, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Kay Manufacturing Corp., Brooklyn, N.Y., a corporation of New York Application October 23, 1958, Serial No. 769,219

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-179) This invention relates to spring structures for upholstered furniture and particularly to that type of individual inner spring units consisting of a single row of coil springs suitably held together and adapted to be manipulated as a whole for assembly with identical row units to form the spring structure for the back of an article of furniture.-

The invention contemplates the provision of an inexpensive spring-row unit comprising a single row of coil springs adequately but economically held together at the front coils of the springs by suitable ties and independently held also at the rear coils, the unit being adapted for easy stapling at low labor cost to the furniture frame in any selected transverse spaced relation to similar units to form the spring structure for the back of the article of furniture.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a back spring structure quickly, easily and economically assembled of such individual spring-row units with a minimum expenditure of labor and materials and adequately supporting the units, the spring structure being adaptable to furniture backs of a wide range of sizes by merely varying the transverse spacing between the units or the longitudinal spacing of the springs in each unit or by varying the number of springs in each unit.

The various objects of the invention will appear from the following description and from the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the spring-row unit as it appears when supplied by the manufacturer to the upholsterer.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of a back spring structure formed of a number of the units and showing part of the frame supporting the back of an article of furniture.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view thereof partly in section.

In the form illustrated herein as typical ofthe invention, the spring-row unit 10 consists of a number of aligned coil springs 11 set in a row intended to be in stalled in a substantially vertical position, and means for suitably holding the springs together so that the entire row may be handled as a whole. While two springs of the hourglass type have been shown as comprising the row, it is obvious that the shape of the springs, the number of springs in the row and the spacing between springs may be considerably varied to meet the various conditions found in practice. The springs are held in their proper longitudinal spaced relation by suitable tie wires clipped to the front and rear coils of the springs, the wires being generally tangent to the coils and generally parallel to each other.

The front coils 12, which are usually of the same diam- For tying together the front coils, which are L-shaped front tie wires 13 and 14 are employed. The long legs 15, 16 of the respective front tie wires are se- United States Patent 2,936,027 Patented May 10, 1960 metal clips as 17 each passing about the adjacent coil and about a corrugated part 18 of said long leg of the tie wire at one side of the coil and preferably'tangent thereto. The shorter legs 19 and 20 of the respective front tie wires are overlapped at the bottom of the unit and fastened together by the clips 21 to form a transverse cross bar which may readily be stapled to the lower rail of a furniture back frame, the clip joining the L- shaped tie wires to form a U-shaped member. 7 s

The rear coils 22 of the springs are similarly tied together and held, but by much shorter tie wires 23 and2fl which are generally straight and substantially tangent to and respectively joined to opposite sides of the coils at a corrugated part of the tie wires by the clips 25 which are similar to the clips 17. The rear tie wires 23 and 24 terminate at the tops thereof, similarly to the front wires, just above the clips which join them to the rear coils of the uppermost spring of the row. At the bottoms 26 thereof, said wires 23 and 24 terminate just below the clips 25 joining them to the rear coils of th lowermost springs of the row. While the legs 15 and 16 of the front tie wires are substantially parallel to the short wires 23 and 24, said legs extend downwardly for a considerable distance below the bottoms 26 of the rear wires to permit the shorter legs 19 and 20 to be stapled, as by means of the staples 27, to the lower rail 28 of the furniture frame when the spring-row units are installed. Each of the front tie wires terminates at the top thereof just above the clip 17 which joins it to the side of the coil 12 of the uppermost spring of the row, the top of the wire being below the uppermost part 29 of said coil. This permits the part 29 to be readily fastened to the top border wire 31 extending transversely across the rows tangent to saidtop front coils, by suitable clips as 30 when or after the springrow units have been installed in the back frame by the upholsterer. a

The downwardly projecting or lower parts of the legs 15 and 16 preferably converge downwardly to impart increased stiifness to the unit with the use of lighter wire. For similar reasons and also to prevent shifting of the clips 17 and 25 relatively to their associated wires and coils, those parts of the tie wires within and just outside of the clips are corrugated or made wavy in form. To install the units within the frame, the units are spaced transversely apart the desired distance, wherea-fter the overlapped short legs 19 and 20 of the units are stapled to the lower rail 28. The uppermost points of the rear coils 22 of the top springs of the unit are stapled to the top rail 33 (Fig. 3) by means of the staples 34, whereby the units are supported at the front lower ends and the rear upper ends thereof only, such support being sufficient to stabilize the structure. For additional support, a strip 35 of suitable fabric extends transversely across the back frame between and parallel to the top and bottomrails and from one side 36 of the frame to the corresponding opposite side (not shown), the strip being arranged preferably taut and behind a transverse row of corresponding springs of the various units.

Auxiliary connecting springs 37 (Fig. 2)of the usual type may be employed to connect adjacent units to each other at one or more points, and. similar springs 38 used to connect the ends of the border wire 31 to the adjacent side rails of the frame. The spring structure thus formed is covered by the usual padding and covering fabric, not here shown.

It will be seen that the unit and spring structure herein disclosed are of the simplest form, highly economical in material and labor in construction and installation, and

that the various objects of the invention have been adequately attained.

I claim:

1. A spring-row unit comprising a row of a multiplicity of coil springs each having a front coil and a rear coil, and means for securing the front coils of the row of springs together in spaced relation to each other and for also securing the rear coils of the row of springs together in spaced relation to each other and for manipulation of the row as a unit during installation of the unit as a whole in a spring structure, said means comprising a pair of substantially identical L-shaped front tie wires each having a long leg and a short leg, the long leg of one wire being substantially tangent to the front coils of the row of springs at one side of said coils and the long leg of the other wire being substantially tangent to the front coils at the opposite side of said coils, said long legs extending downwardly past the lowermost spring of the row a distance greater than the diameter of the front coils, the short legs of the wires being overlapped and substantially coextensive, a clip securing the short legs together in overlapped relation and against relative movement, a pair of opposed clips at each front coil securing the wires to the front coils of the row, the upper end of each wire being free and arranged below the uppermost point of the uppermost spring of the row whereby the L-shaped wires form a U open at the top and closed at the bottom, a pair of rear tie wires each of slightly greater length than the distance between centers of the uppermost and lowermost springs of the row and each free at both ends thereof, one of the rear wires being substantially tangent to and at one side of the rear coils of the row, the other rear wire being substantially tangent to and at the opposite side of the rear coils, and a pair of opposed clips at each rear coil securing the rear wires to diametrically opposite points of the rear coils in spaced relation to the adjacent free ends of the rear wires whereby the spacing of said rear coils is maintained constant before and after installation of the unit in the spring structure.

2. A spring-row unit comprising a row of vertically spaced apart coil springs each having a front coil and a rear coil, a pair of substantially identical L-shaped tie I wires secured respectively to and substantially tangent to opposite sides of the front coils of the springs and having relatively long upright legs extending downwardly past the lowermost spring of the row, each of the wires having a relatively short transverse leg at the lower end thereof, means securing the transverse legs of the wires together in coextensive overlapping relation to form the wires into a U-shaped tie of double thickness at the lower end thereof and open at the top thereof, and a' pair of relatively short rear tie wires secured respectively to and substantially tangent to opposite sides of the rear coils and extending downwardly just past the center of the rear coil of the lowermost spring and extending upwardly just past the center of the rear coil of the uppermost spring, the upper ends of all of the wires being free and the lower ends of the rear wires being free.

3. In a back spring structure, a frame having a top rail and a bottom rail, a plurality of horizontally spaced apart individually installed spring row units between the top and bottom rails, each unit comprising a row of a multiplicity of vertically spaced apart coil springs each having a front coil and a rear coil, a pair of L-shaped tie wires on opposite sides of the front coils and each terminating in a relatively short leg in downward spaced relation to the lowermost spring of the row and overlapping the short leg of the other wire, a clip securing the short legs together in overlapping relation to form a U-shaped wire of a single thickness at the sides, open at the top and of double thickness at the bottom, and a pair of relatively short substantially straight parallel wires secured respectively to opposite sides of the rear coils and having a length slightly greater than the dis- 4 tance between the centers of the uppermost and lowermost springs of the row, a border wire secured tangentially to the uppermost parts of the front coils of the uppermost springs of the rows and in forward spaced relation to the top rail, means securing the shorter legs of the front wires to the lower rail and means securing the rear coils of the uppermost springs to and in contact with the upper rail.

'4. The spring structure of claim 3, the means securing the front wires to the lower rail and the means securing the rear coils to the upper rail being staples, the L- shaped wires extending below the lowermost springs of the rows a distance approximately that between the centers of adjacent springs of a row, the lower parts of the upright legs of the front wires of each row converging downwardly toward each other, opposed side rails on the frame connecting the top and bottom rails, and a supporting member in contact with the bottom coils of all the corresponding springs of all of the rows and supporting the bottom coils and positioned between and parallel to the top and bottom rails and secured at the ends thereof to the respective side rails.

S. A spring-row unit comprising a row of vertically spaced apart coil springs each having a front coil and a rear coil, a U-shaped wire tie open at the top and closed at the bottom for the front coils of the row comprising a pair of transversely spaced apart generally straight upright wire legs secured respectively to and substantially tangent to opposite sides of said front coils and extending downwardly past the lowermost spring of the row and transversely arranged means connecting the lower ends of the legs and closing the bottom of the U-shaped tie, said tie being adapted to be secured at the lower closed end of the U to the lower rail of a frame having upper and lower rails, and wire tie means separate from the first mentioned wire tie, for controlling the relative positions of the rear coils of the row comprising a pair of transversely spaced apart generally straight upright relatively short parallel wire elements secured respectively to and substantially tangent to opposite sides of said rear coils, the upper ends of said relatively short elements extending slightly above the center of the rear coil of the uppermost spring of the row and the lower ends of said short elements extending slightly below the center of the rear coil of the lowermost spring of the row, said rear coil of the uppermost spring being adapted to be secured to the upper rail of said frame whereby the unit is adapted to be held to the frame only at the lower front and upper rear points of the unit and thereby adapted to be individually installed in the frame independently of the installation of similar units while the spacing of the rear coils is controlled and maintained constant.

6. A spring-row unit comprising a row of a multiplicity of coil springs each having a front coil and a rear coil, means for securing the front coils of the springs together in spaced relation to each other and means for securing the rear coils of the springs together for manipulation of the row as a unit during installation of the unit as a whole in a spring structure, the front coil securing means comprising a U-shaped wire tie open at the top and closed at the bottom and having a pair of transversely spaced apart generally straight upright legs, one leg being substantially tangent to the front coils of the row of springs at one side of said coils and the other leg being substantially tangent to the front coils at the opposite side of said coils, said legs extending downwardly past the lowermost spring of the row a distance greater than the diameter of the front coils, said U- shaped tie having transversely arranged means connecting the legs and closing the bottom of the tie and preventing relative movement of the legs, a pair of opposed clips at each front coil securing the legs to said front coil, the upper end of each leg being free and arranged below the uppermost point of the uppermost spring of the row, the rear coil securing means comprising a pair of rear tie Wires each slightly longer than the distance between centers of the uppermost and lowermost springs of the row and each free at 'both ends thereof, one of the rear wires being substantially tangent to and at one side of the rear coils of the row, the other rear wire being substantially tangent to and at the opposite side of the rear coils, a pair of opposed clips at each rear coil securing the rear wires to diametrically opposite points of the rear coils in spaced relation to the adjacent free end of the rear wire whereby the spacing of said rear coils is maintained constant before and after installation of the unit in a spring structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Young Mar. 6, 1917 McElroy June 17, 1930 Horton et al. Sept. 9, 1952 Herider Nov. 8, 1955 Machman et a1. Sept. 25, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS France Dec. 18, 1929 

